Antoni Vila Casas has been, without a doubt, a great gentleman and the greatest promoter of contemporary art in Barcelona and Catalonia. He has died just when signs of the awakening of art are showing, after the terrible pandemic and economic crises. The recent Gallery Weekend has been a success. We have been able to visit 28 galleries, including the Palmadotze in Penedès, as well as two art centers: the Macba and the Espais Volart Fundació Vila Casas, where we were able to see an exhibition by Fina Miralles and another by Maria Girona, in which there are some paintings from our collection. We have always liked to collaborate with the Vila Casas Foundation, as we already did in an exhibition in Ràfols-Casamada and in another in Subirachs.
Both the galleries and the art centers were packed to the brim, even though they closed at nine at night and opened on Sunday until three in the afternoon. Maybe it helped that they served beers from a sponsor. In order to visit almost all of them, we had to organize ourselves well. This was facilitated by the intelligent decision of the Taché gallery, which left its location next to Montjuïc to move to Trafalgar Street, which has already established itself as another gallery center as important as Consell de Cent and Enric Granados.
It is true that we do not have a large art fair like Arco or Miami Basel, nor the hundreds of South American collectors who have settled in Madrid, but, since the beginning of the 20th century, those Barcelonans who could had a Casas or a Rusiñol that they proudly showed to his friends. For this reason, our love for art, which comes from afar, could not die, no matter how much the economic or health crises have put it in danger.
I am deeply happy about this awakening of galleries that show established artists and new ones, with the desire to transcend, for their work to be known, appreciated and, above all, capable of generating emotions. How I would have liked to tour the Gallery Weekend with Antoni Vila Casas!
